The composition was a very personal one for John Lennon, and it took him an unusually long time to write it. After years of he and McCartney being able to quickly crank out a well-crafted tune, either singly or together, he suddenly found himself alone in Spain, playing a small role in Richard Lester's film How I Won the War, and he had a lot of spare time on his hands. The Beatles had decided to stop touring just a few months before, and the future of the group was uncertain. Lennon found himself adrift and, to while away the endless hours of waiting on location, he began to slowly compose a song about his struggle with his identity, using the grounds of a Liverpool Salvation Army home as an idyllic refuge in his memory.
Actor Michael Crawford (who later gained fame as the first to play the title role in the musical The Phantom of the Opera) shared a house with Lennon, and recalled hearing him play the same verse and chorus over and over, making only the tiniest adjustments to it over the course of the weeks in Spain. Demo tapes recorded by Lennon at the time reveal this recollection to be perfectly accurate.
The production wrapped in early November of 1966, and Lennon continued to work on the song after he returned home, eventually adding two more verses and recording himself as he began to flesh out a rough arrangement. One of his countless demos is available on Anthology 2, including a false start when John tries to play in a fingerpicking style, then switches to simply strumming instead.
The Beatles finally reconvened on November 24th, feeling they could now record a song or an album at their own pace, with no deadlines or obligations to make appearances. And the first song to benefit from this new approach was Strawberry Fields Forever. John played the song on acoustic guitar for producer George Martin and the other Beatles, and all were suitably impressed by what they heard. At that moment, however, the simplicity of the composition was left behind.
In some of his later home demos, John had played a slide guitar part, which would now be played by George. John had also brought in a new keyboard instrument called a Mellotron, which Paul soon commandeered. After much rehearsal, the group recorded only one take, then began vocal overdubs. This take, which immediately starts out with the first verse, can also be heard on Anthology 2. It could well have served as the master, though it is a bit rough in execution and may have required more overdubbing (I have a bootleg version with backing vocals by Paul and George not heard on the Anthology version).
In any case, the group returned on November 28th and began a new arrangement, recording takes two through four. Paul now opened the song on Mellotron before John came in starting with the chorus. Verses one and two are sung in succession before the first repeat of the chorus. Paul overdubbed bass onto take four and George added his slide guitar part (he had only played maracas on the backing track on this day).
John was not satisfied with the recording as it presently stood, so they started over yet again on the next day, November 29th. Take five was a false start, but take six proved to be a keeper. A tape reduction of this take resulted in take seven, which received all further overdubs. Featuring bass, more Mellotron parts and John's vocal (double-tracked in each chorus), the song was finally considered to be complete. This version of the song can best be heard on the 50th anniversary editions of Sgt. Pepper (on Anthology 2, it is presented with a wild drum track from a later session tacked on at the end).
After listening to the recording over the course of a week, Lennon told George Martin that he wanted to start from scratch, and they agreed that Martin would come up with a score for trumpets and cellos. On December 8th, the Beatles began with take nine (somehow skipping take eight), playing a percussion-based backing track in a different key and at a faster tempo than before. Drums, cymbals, timpani, bongos, maracas and tambourine were played by the Beatles and assistant Mal Evans. Then Paul overdubbed some guitar parts, mostly during the long fadeout. These takes ended at number twenty-four.
On December 9th, takes fifteen and twenty-four were edited together, thus creating take twenty-five. The previously-mentioned wild drum track was played by Ringo on this date, as John stood at an open microphone interjecting vocalizations, including the famously-misheard "cranberry sauce." George overdubbed a swaramandala before verses two and three, and during the fadeout. In addition, some cymbals were recorded by Ringo in a prearranged pattern so they would be heard correctly when played backwards on the track.
All was ready for George Martin's score for three trumpets and three cellos on December 15th. Once the session musicians had contributed their parts, a reduction mix created take twenty-six. Onto this, John recorded his lead vocal, then double-tracked it during the choruses. He added a brief harmony vocal to the final chorus on December 21st, Paul overdubbed some piano during the fadeout, and then one of the first known instances of sampling occurred. The Mellotron had a feature called the "swinging flutes" that could be played by hitting a certain key or keys. Either John, Paul or George Martin added this at various points during the fadeout.
This take, number twenty-six, can be heard on the 50th anniversary editions of Sgt. Pepper. It opens with a flourish by the trumpets and sounds very fast. I have never heard a version of it (even on bootlegs) that does not omit the first verse of the song, though one may exist. At any rate, this was now considered to be the final version of the song. But, as we know, John soon asked Martin to combine the beginning of take seven and most of take twenty-six to create the master. When Martin pointed out that the two takes were in different keys and tempos, John famously replied, "Well, you can fix it."
On December 22nd, Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick set about creating the new mono master by using the first minute of take seven and only slightly speeding it up, then slowing down take twenty-six and editing it onto the first section at the word "going" in the second chorus. In his book Here, There and Everywhere, Emerick says that he purposely stood in front of the tape machine so John could not see the splice go past when he came in to hear the new version. John actually had to ask, "Has it passed yet?" This edit was so tricky that it took quite a bit of time to recreate it for the stereo mix on December 29th.
Along with When I'm 64 and Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields Forever was part of a planned album focusing on the group's childhood in Liverpool, but Capitol Records in the US was worried that there had been no new product from the Beatles for six whole months (!), so manager Brian Epstein asked Martin for a single for immediate release. Martin paired Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever as a double A-sided single, a curious choice since Penny Lane was clearly the more AM radio-friendly number. While Penny Lane did go to the top of the Billboard chart in the US, Strawberry Fields Forever did reach a respectable number eight.
In the UK, this February, 1967 release could not dislodge Release Me by Engelbert Humperdinck from the top spot, and the Beatles had to settle for a number two showing for Penny Lane. The single was sold in a picture sleeve - unusual for the UK - showing the group sporting their new mustaches, differing hairstyles and flamboyant clothing on one side, and photos of them as children on the reverse.
Shortly before the single was released, promotional films were produced for both songs, directed by a Swedish fellow named Peter Goldman. For Strawberry Fields Forever, the Beatles were shot in a field at Knole Park, Sevenoaks, Kent over a cold night and day in late January around a tree and an old upright piano in one of the first surreal, psychedelic films of its kind. It was shown on Top of the Pops in the UK and on The Hollywood Palace and American Bandstand in the US.
At the end of 1967, Capitol Records created a Magical Mystery Tour album which, in addition to containing all of the soundtrack songs, included all of the year's singles. This marked the first release of the stereo version of Strawberry Fields Forever. It was the first track on the retrospective collection known as the Blue Album in 1973.
With its curious fadeout, fade back in and fadeout again (which is barely mentioned - let alone explained - in any of the reading I have done over the years), it is remarkable that the song got as much airplay as it did on AM radio, but such was the power and allure of the Beatles. Along with A Day in the Life, which was recorded soon afterwards, it stands as a high watermark of what the group and the production team of Martin and Emerick were capable of. And, even though that complex and innovative production may now sound dated to some, the composition endures thanks to the stark and honest truth that John Lennon dared to share with the world.
